Korean tobacco farmers joined a worldwide anti-regulation protest Tuesday in Manila, the Philippines, voicing opposition to measures to curb tobacco farming expected to be announced at a tobacco control convention in Seoul in November.

Titled “Save Our Farms” and led by the International Tobacco Growers Association, the global protest reflects millions of Asian tobacco growers’ fears of having their livelihoods destroyed upon the implementation of a series of “radical guidelines,” the Korea Tobacco Growers Organization, a local group which joined the ITGA’s campaign, said on Wednesday.

According to the KTGO, the regulations were drafted in advance and will be proposed to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Conference of the Parties hosted in Seoul in November.

The tobacco growers’ association claimed that these regulations mandate: shortened cultivating seasons, abolishment of all governmental and private subsidies for tobacco farmers, and reductions in both tobacco farmland area and tobacco production.

“The restriction will cause serious damage to farmers from Korea and other countries that adopt the FCTC,” KTGO chairman Lee Hae-kwon said.

“Instead, countries like the U.S., Argentina, Indonesia and Malawi will take advantage of these sanctions (by gaining larger market shares in tobacco farming).”

The “Save Our farms” campaign runs an official website at saveourfarms.org where supporters can join the online petition, and testimonies from tobacco farmers are also available on YouTube.

By Chung Joo-won (joowonc@heraldcorp.com)